


You told the drunks I knew karate

by feverbeats



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 11:07:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19766917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: Apart from the Venom issue, Kate feels bad for Eddie. He's so weird and hapless that he makes Clint look like a normal person.(Crossover between Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run and the Venom movie.)





	You told the drunks I knew karate

**KATE**

Kate is so close to getting something she really wants when Clint's stupid brother shows up.

She and Clint have been doing this Are We/Aren't We thing for ages now, and they're pretty solidly on the We Aren't side of things. Which opens them up to a lot of weird opportunities where it's okay to do x/y/z because after all, they Aren't.

Which leads them to where they are now, sitting on opposite ends of Clint's couch, jerking off together.

It took a lot to get them here. It took Kate reminding Clint that she's an actual adult, and they're buddies, and they should be able to manage some casual blowing off steam.

Except it's not casual. It's so intense. He keeps glancing over at her like he needs to make sure it's okay. The heat in his apartment is off again for some reason, but her belly feels like it's on fire. She's got her jeans up, sliding off her hips, and she's working her fingers inside her purple underwear. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious.

She watches Clint watching her. His hand is in his sweatpants, and he's gasping. She can see the shape of his dick through his pants, and she just wants to grab it, but no, that's not what they do. Clint would feel like he was taking advantage, and also maybe commitment issues? Kate hates it.

She slides a hand under her shirt and cups one of her breasts, just to see his eyes widen.

"Fuck," he breathes. "Katie."

Heat shoots through her when he says her name, and she works the hand in her pants faster, making sure he can see her react. No way will he be able to pretend this didn't happen later. Even his denial isn't that good.

Then the doorbell rings, and it's Clint's stupid brother.

So that happened. Kate is still furious about it, but even more than that, she's furious with herself for thinking doing that would change anything. Clint still calls her Katie and leans on her and puts his arm around her. They're still buddies. And she shouldn't be mad, because that's what she signed on for, but _god_.

She and Clint are sitting out of the roof one day, about a week after Barney shows up.

"So how're you doing?" Kate asks.

Clint taps his ear. He's been refusing to wear his hearing aid since Barney got here, which is infuriating. Barney can sign with him, but Kate sucks at it. She's trying to learn, but she sucks. She half wonders if this is another tactic so he can avoid talking about his feelings.

She pulls out her phone. Two can play at this game. (Or is she getting sucked into his game? Is that what she's doing all the time when she's Hawkeyeing with Clint? She could be walking around with Prada purses and her dad's money, and instead she's in Clint's shitty apartment with the heat broken. Is that a game she's winning?)

Clint blinks when his phone vibrates. He takes it out of his pocket slowly at looks at Kate's text. Finally he texts back. _good u_

It's better than nothing. Everything about Clint is just barely better than nothing.

Kate's phone vibrates again, but it's not Clint. It's Barney. _hey can u come down here_ and then _gotta run_ and _dropped something off for you._

**EDDIE**

Eddie curls up in the creaky bed, trying to filter out everything but the essential input he needs to make sense of what's going on. There's noise--the sounds of New York filtering in through the window. The blankets are too cold around him, and they don't smell like him. He smells coffee and wet dog and some else's body smells.

 _Venom_ , he says, just checking.

Usually this is when Venom stirs in Eddie's head and says his name.

Eddie's always been hideously awful at relationships, but this one is different. He doesn't have to worry about saying the wrong thing, because Venom is already inside his head. There's no negotiation--Will We, Won't We--because they're already on the same page. Venom is built into his being. The question of whether they're in love has never come up. They just Are.

But today, in the gross cold bed, Venom doesn't say Eddie's name.

Eddie sits upright, pulling the cold sheets around himself. He's wearing a filthy hoodie, covered in dirt and blood. He feels sorry for whoever's bed this is.

"Venom," he says out loud.

Still nothing. Then Eddie remembers. He hunches over, ready to be sick. There is a gaping nothingness inside him, just waves and waves of loneliness. He remembers the loud music, and the feeling of Venom being torn out of him. He remembers a dark street, and then nothing.

He rolls out of bed shakily. Every movement makes his body feel unbelievably heavy. He knows he relies too much on Venom for some stuff, but _Jesus_.

The smell of coffee is the only thing that gets him moving. He staggers out of the tiny bedroom into a tiny living room.

There's a blond guy and a dark-haired woman sitting on the couch, his head on her shoulder, their backs to him. They're watching _The Bachelor_ , which Eddie and Venom also love. Good sign.

"Um, hi?" Eddie says. He realizes as he says it that these two might freak out, because maybe he and Venom maybe broke in here. Or, just him. Not Venom, just him.

The two on the couch turn around. There are lines in the man's cheek from where he was leaning. The woman is way younger than Eddie thought.

"Oh, you're awake," she says. She doesn't sound happy about it.

"Who the fuck--where am I?" Eddie asks, his mouth scrambling to form the words. The humming, pent-up energy of Venom is missing.

"Bed-Stuy," the man says. He gets up, drops a piece of what looks like an egg sandwich to a sleepy dog on the floor, and comes over to Eddie. "Are you good?"

"Fucking--no," Eddie says. Venom isn't there to remind him to be polite to people. Which is weirdly more common than Eddie reminding Venom. "Where's Venom?"

Even out of it like this, Eddie can see the man's expression change. He hides it fast, but Eddie can see it: _fear_. "What?"

Nobody says anything.

"Where's Venom?" Eddie asks. Because maybe they know, and maybe they took him. "Venom?"

"Stop it," the guy says. "Jesus, just--"

"Venom!" Eddie says, and he's shouting now, but he doesn't care. "And who the fuck are you?"

There's a noise, and he turns to see the woman pointing a bow and arrow at him.

"You're--really fucking jumpy," he tells her. He still feels so sick. "I'm not--this isn't--what's going on?"

The woman relaxes. "Your damn brother," she tells the man.

"When he gets back, there'll definitely be questions," the man says. He holds out his hand to Eddie. "Clint Barton."

"Kate Bishop," the woman says. "Hawkeye."

"And also Hawkeye," Clint says.

Eddie tries to figure out how to take Clint's hand without getting blood or dirt on him. He ends up kind of half waving in this really weird way instead. "I've heard about you guys. On TV." And from Venom. Venom sometimes gets out more than Eddie does. When it's stuck in another host for whatever reason. Eddie feels himself go pale as he remembers more pieces of the night before.

"Coffee?" Clint says.

"I guess," Eddie says. He carefully navigates to the couch and sits, reaching down to fluff the dog's head. The dog whuffles happily, which it wouldn't do if Venom was here, and oh, oh, Eddie is going to cry.

"Are you okay?" Kate says.

"Katie," Clint says warningly. "Maybe we should wait for Barney."

"I remember him!" Eddie pipes up. Oh yeah, right, Barney. The reason they're in this shitty situation. Join the team, Barney said. It'll be read. We're not supervillains even a little.

The door creaks and someone--Barney, right, Barney--comes in. Eddie can see how he and Clint are brothers. They have the same homeless, beaten-around-the-head look. Like Eddie does.

"I remember you," Eddie says.

"You _remember_ me?" Barney blinks at him. "Yeah, I hope so. How hard did that thing hit you?"

"You were homeless," Eddie says. "Yeah, you were homeless and I helped you."

"No, dick," Barney says, but Eddie remembers.

Clint throws a dishrag at Barney. "Hey, dummy," he says. "What did you bring here?"

Eddie is used to being talked about when he's in a room. He can roll with it.

The inside of Eddie's head feels like something really gross, possibly a pumpkin that's been scraped clean to make a jack o' lantern. He doesn't feel like himself. Or he doesn't feel like themselves. He's not used to being single. That sounds like a joke, and he laughs. The woman--whatshername?--stares at him like he's crazy, but he's so used to that. He talks to himself all the time.

If Venom were here, he'd be picking up on the little things. Eddie tries to focus. Come on, be a reporter. He can see Clint cocking his head to one side when someone is talking. If he pays attention, he can see Clint angling his body so that he can lip-read when Barney talks to Kate.

Oh yeah, Kate. What she's doing here is a total mystery, expect she's clearly dating way below her level and out of her age range. "Wonder if they call each other Hawkeye in bed," Eddie says to Venom.

Oh right, no Venom.

"Excuse me?" Kate says, bright red and incredulous. "Who are you talking to, you enormous freak?"

"Uh," Eddie says. "Sorry, habit."

"We're not," Clint says quickly, as if that's the important part. "Not a thing. Not that thing."

"Oh my god," Kate says.

"Sorry, Katydid," Clint says. He looks like a kicked puppy. Eddie gets that.

"So...can I sleep on your couch till I find Venom?" he asks.

"That's where I've been sleeping," Kate says. Are they _not_ banging?

But everyone agrees that they can't exactly put Eddie out on the street, so the four of them end up staying there until they figure out what else to do.

That night, Eddie sleeps on the floor, trying to remember how to meditate. Barney is on the floor too, with way less good grace. Eddie's just grateful for a roof over his head.

"Hey," he whispers in the dark. "You awake?"

"No shit I'm awake," Barney says. "This isn't exactly a four-star hotel."

"You remember what the--team or whatever, what the guys were doing before we ended up here?"

"Of course I remember, moron. You're the one with a memory problem."

Eddie does have a memory problem. But he remembers the team. It had all been a huge mistake, getting involved with those guys. Bullseye especially. But Eddie remembers who they had a hit out on, before Barney decided it wasn't a hit he could do.

"You had a good thing going with them," he tells Barney. "You must really love your brother."

Barney doesn't answer. Finally he says, "Yeah, this time."

Eddie lies there, trying to meditate, trying not to think about how if Venom hasn't found him by now, it means something worse has happened. He wonders if Venom is with Bullseye.

The next week is a blur. Clint and Kate have work to do. They go out and save the world or save New York or something, and they put ears to the street about Venom. They're looking for Eddie and Barney's team, too, because there's another kind of problem, one that's more immediate.

"You gonna tell him they're after him?" Eddie asks Barney one day when they're the only two home.

"Nah," Barney says. "I think they're lying low after that sonic whatever that took Venom out."

Maybe Venom isn't with Bullseye or anyone. Maybe Venom is dead. Eddie presses his palms together and tries to breathe.

It's a little sick, the way Venom fills in everything Eddie is missing. All that executive function disorder, all that loneliness--

Clint Barton, Eddie thinks, could really use someone like Venom.

He still can't figure Kate out. She eats food at regular hours. She knows about personal hygiene. She dresses nicely--when she goes out, anyway. Eddie thinks, though, that she might be the same as them on the inside. And she clearly has something worth sticking around for. She and Clint are constantly in such close physical proximity that Eddie feels sick with missing Venom.

**KATE**

Clint is a fucking disaster, but he's even more of one when he's brother's around. He won't wear his hearing aid, he won't talk to Kate--and he lets Barney walk all over him.

Whatever, Kate is not getting sucked into that. Even having Barney and Eddie staying there isn't so bad. The real problem is the Venom situation.

As far as Kate can piece together what happened, Barney and Eddie were recruited by the Thunderbolts. Not a team Kate really knows, but she gathers that they're pretty nasty. Why Clint wants to trust Barney after that is a mystery, but it's not her problem right now. Anyway, Eddie got roped in, and all of them were doing jobs together. Then a job came up that Barney didn't like--he won't say what it was--and he tried to quit. Eddie, who had maybe never liked the team that much, tried to quit with him.

Apart from the Venom issue, Kate feels bad for Eddie. He's so weird and hapless that he makes Clint look like a normal person.

Anyway, when he and Barney tried to quit, the team turned on them. They did something to split Venom and Eddie apart. Kate isn't sure how that works. She isn't sure how Venom works. But anyway, Barney is vouching for Eddie and Eddie is vouching for Venom, so part of Kate and Clint's mission is to find Venom again.

And that's where the real problem comes in. Clint won't say why, but every time somebody mentions Venom, he goes pale and clams up even more than usual. Today, they're driving, in full costume. Kate is driving.

"You've had run-ins with Venom before, right?" Kate asks, taking a corner fast.

Clint sighs and watches her lips. "Ahh, Katie. Why are you making this hard?"

 _You're the one making it hard_ , she wants to say.

"There's just, like, no part of this story I want to tell you," Clint says. "It makes me look so bad."

"Fine," Kate says shortly, without looking at him. She knows exactly the look he's giving her.

She turns up the radio, and it's a good thing, because they're talking about team of criminal supervillains attacking a bar in Queens. Kate floors it. Lucky day.

"A bar, though?" she says. "Why?"

"Thirsty?" Clint suggests. He's so pale. Is he even going to be able to fight Venom?

When they get there, Kate makes sure to grab a couple of trick arrows, the sonic kind. That's what'll work on Venom. Who she's hoping they don't run into.

Inside, it's dark. It's mid-afternoon, so thankfully the bar is mostly empty. Except for the criminals.

Kate and Clint go for it. There's someone else with arrows--that would be Bullseye, probably, and a couple others who Kate thinks might be mutants. But the biggest problem is the fucking huge black goo monster.

Panting from fighting in close quarters, which doesn't lend itself to her skillset, Kate slips and goes down behind the bar. She thinks she's got a second to catch her breath and help Clint out, but then a black tendril grabs her ankle. It's warm and wet, like rubber and jello and _ugh_.

The teeth are so big.

"You smell good," it says in a deep voice.

"Fuck," Kate says. The goo around her ankle is starting to ooze up her leg. She's going to get eaten by Eddie's monster.

But then it says, "You feel like a friend."

Something happens: it splits, peeling away from--there's someone else. The host, Kate guesses. Some beefy-looking guy. He staggers sideways, cursing, while Venom flows up Kate's side.

"Hold on--" she says, but it's too late. Venom is pouring into her, and all she can hear is Clint screaming her name.

**EDDIE**

Apart from being miserable, Eddie is bored. Without Venom, he has nothing to do. He's been scrolling through the news on Kate's beat-up laptop that she always forgets to lock, but that just makes him depressed, too. He should be writing this stuff. Besides, he keeps seeing articles about Tony Stark, the worst person in the world.

Barney leans on the back of Eddie's chair. "He could probably help us," he says, before Eddie can close the tab. "Stark. He's got resources."

"No," Eddie says. "Do you know remember how I--I just hate capitalism? And billionaires? And Tony Stark?"

"He's trans, though," Barney says casually. Barney is always trying to be Cool About Stuff.

"That doesn't mean I like him," Eddie says, closing the whole computer. "Not all trans people are friends. Tony Stark and I are not friends. Famously a capitalist pig."

Barney shrugs. "Fine. It's not like Clint and Kate can't handle it on their own."

But they can't, probably.

An hour or so later, the door bangs open. It's Clint, alone. He's bleeding and limping and doesn't have Kate with him. People who can't handle things: Clint and Kate.

Barney signs something to Clint.

Clint signs back, desperate, fast.

"What?" Eddie asks.

"Venom took her," Barney says.

"What the hell?" Eddie demands. "He took her? Why her?" He gets the sense that the others want a different reaction from him, but too bad. That's his Venom and he wants to get him back.

"Fuck you," Barney says. "That's it. We need to get her back, right? Is she still with the team?"

Clint shakes his head. He looks pained.

"Good," Eddie says. "If he's with her, he'll be more like her. He won't be on their side anymore. He'll probably come back here."

Clint almost doesn't flinch. Barney grabs his arm, and Clint shakes him off.

"Why do you hate Venom?" Eddie demands. He's going to write an article about this. _Avengers don't respect Venom._

"They had a bad run-in," Barney says. "Venom did some things to him. Blame Osborn."

"That's not my Venom," Eddie says defensively. With Venom is with Eddie, Venom is like Eddie. They have the same morals, and they're getting closer all the time.

There's a thud so loud it shakes the whole building.

"The roof," Barney says. The three of them run up the stairs, which leaves Barney and Eddie wheezing. Clint runs right through his limp.

Venom is perched on the edge of the roof. Eddie's heart lurches. Venom looks a little different in each person, and this one is a little smaller, with needle-thin claws. He can feel the Kateness of Venom.

"Shit," Clint whispers. "Shit, shit."

"Clint," Venom says. The voice is a little higher, but it's still Venom.

"Shit," Clint says. He points one of his arrows at Venom.

"Hey, well, don't do that," Eddie says, although it probably won't do any real damage.

"Clint, you need to communicate with us," Venom says.

"What?" Clint says.

Eddie and Barney look at each other. Eddie grins. This is Venom's best quality. He won't let you hide anything you shouldn't be hiding.

"We can't be partners if you shut down all the time, Clint," Venom says, slithering down off the railing and comes closer.

Clint backs up, but there isn't really anywhere to go.

"Um, Venom, hey," Eddie says.

Venom holds up a hand. "Wait, Eddie." The way Venom says Eddie's name makes him tingle. "You have to tell us things," Venom presses Clint. "If you don't, we're leaving."

"I get it," Clint says, his voice strained. "I hear you, Katie."

"Do you?" Venom thunders.

"Jesus, yes!" Eddie can see Clint shaking, maybe from the cold and maybe from fear.

That seems to be enough for Venom. He detaches from Kate gracelessly, a mess of black sliding across the rooftop. Eddie reaches his arm out, so ready, as Clint catches Kate.

So suddenly that it feels like being splashed with cold water, Venom surges into being in Eddie's head. **Eddie,** he says, his voice thick and possessive.

Eddie's whole body is a shiver.

**Eddie. We're hungry.**

"Yeah? What do you want? You didn't eat enough people with the Thunderbolts?"

**Ramen, Eddie. Pizza rolls.**

Eddie melts with pure, blissful relief.

**KATE**

"Okay, but for real, you guys need to leave," Kate says, once they're all back inside. Eddie seems more than ready. She can see him bouncing on the balls of his feet, like he can't wait to get away and--well, who knows? Having Venom in her wasn't so bad. She wouldn't want that forever, but she gets why Eddie likes it.

"You're really glad to have that thing back, huh?" Barney says affectionately.

"Yeah," Eddie says. "He's good. He gets me into trouble and then gets me out again."

"Yeah," Clint says, "I have someone like that."

"Hold on," Kate says, "Did you just compare me to an alien parasite?"

It's not like things with Clint are automatically better after Eddie and Barney leave. In some ways, they're weirder and more awkward. He stills texts her a lot when they're in the same room.

She gets that he doesn't want to talk about the Venom thing. Not now, and maybe not ever.

But there are things that are better. Today they're curled up on the couch together, both in sweatpants, watching TV. But this time, Clint is giving her a backrub. He agreed to it without being weird about it at _all_.

Kate has no idea what's happening on the show, because her whole body is focused on the places where Clint is touching her.

Clint's hands slide down the curve of her back, the pads of his thumbs brushing the small of her back. His fingertips graze her ribs and his rubs them up her back again.

She gasps, and she realizes it doesn't sound right for a backrub. His hands only stumble for a second. Then he slides them up and around to cup her breasts. Her nipples are totally hard.

"Let me give you a better angle," she says, and it comes out strangled and really silly-sounding. She moves so her elbows are resting on the arm of the couch, her back to him.

She hears his intake of breath. He keeps rubbing her back, pushing her shirt up. 

She realizes he's hard, and she rocks back against him. He makes a strangled, startled noise. "Katie, you sure--?"

"So sure," she says.

Her legs part just a little and he dips a finger between them, stroking between her legs.

Soon her sweatpants are down around her knees and two of his fingers are inside her, and he's panting and swearing, saying her name over and over, "Katie, Katie--"

"Come on," she says.

She thinks for a second he's going to freak out, but he doesn't. He just gets a condom. He even makes noise as he puts his dick in her. Maybe next time they'll even be able to look at each other.

When they're finished, they lie on the couch, a sticky mess, not talking. Baby steps. At least they're not pretending this didn't happen. Thanks, Venom.


End file.
